


Don't You Ever Tame Your Demons (Always Keep Them On A Leash)

by theonewiththeWeirdEye



Category: Mianite (Fandom), Mianite - Fandom, Realm of Mianite - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:20:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24624625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonewiththeWeirdEye/pseuds/theonewiththeWeirdEye
Summary: He only wrote 'Darkness, I call to you.'And soon after he heard a voice softly whisper into his ear and felt a dark presence hover above him."My dear, sweet Thomas… wonderful child of Chaos… once again Dianite is walking away from you. What a pity. If only he could see what I see in you." The voice spoke. Tom felt a cold hand stroke his cheek.
Relationships: Tom Cassell & Jordan Maron, Tom Cassell/Darkness, Tom Cassell/Jordan Maron
Comments: 13
Kudos: 44





	1. Reverse my fall and leave me there

**Author's Note:**

> I originally planned this as a oneshot, but I guess I'm making it into two, maybe three chapters. I hope to get it fully complete by the end of this week.

As Tom stared into the flame of the campfire, his hand just hovering mere inches from it, his mind was plagued by the thoughts of what transpired earlier that day. After completing the Darkness' challenges, they were sent to a realm that looked just like their own, but was engulfed in darkness. The Darkness challenged them once again, in a fight between the three champions and The Darkness itself.

They weren't winning. Jordan called out to Ianite and she immediately gave him the power to deal a good chunk of damage to the Darkness. Karl called out to Mianite and he didn't hesitate to give Karl enough resistance to take The Darkness straight on.

But when Tom called out for Dianite, he got no answer. He called out again and again, and the Darkness took the opportunity to slam him to the ground.

Tom was alone.

Once again... Tom was alone.

The Darkness wasn't hurting him, though. But it was enough of a distraction for Jordan to deal the final blow, the Darkness disappearing into the air.

He finally got home. He had a victory, but an empty heart.

So as he sat in front of the open flame, his hand just hovering mere inches from it, he remembered The Darkness' offer, that if he wanted to join it, he would just have to write a sign on his island calling out to it.

And in that moment, Tom decided he was done with his God, with every God, grabbed some wood and paper and made a sign.

He only wrote ' _ Darkness, I call to you. _ '

And soon after he heard a voice softly whisper into his ear and felt a dark presence hover above him.

" **_My dear, sweet Thomas… wonderful child of Chaos… once again Dianite is walking away from you. What a pity. If only he could see what I see in you._ ** " The voice spoke. Tom felt a cold hand stroke his cheek.

" **_Darkness knows no time. I've known you for a while. Watching you. Learning you. I know how many times you wished for more and was given nothing. I know how many times you looked at Dianite for comfort, for solace, and got nothing. I know what you're capable of and I can make sure you become so much more. You have the potential to become stronger than any God ever will. And you can show it all to them._ ** " A mass seemed to slowly form together into a human-like shape. Its face felt familiar but foreign all the same. " **_Take all of me in, Tom, and I promise to grant you every wish. I will treat you like he never did. Accept my gift. Only you know how to use it._ ** "

He could feel its lips so close to touching his, waiting patiently for Tom's answer.

Tom was torn. His devotion to Dianite knew no match. He always chose his God over anything. Yet he couldn't help but agree that the love and appreciation he gave was more often than not one sided. While other Gods praised and loved their champions, Dianite seemed to never be satisfied with Tom's actions. Even now, when he needed his guidance and protection the most, to defeat this horror that started haunting this land.

Maybe he should just give in. Maybe this  **thing** was honest and would give him everything he wanted and more. He could finally become what he was meant to be. 

So Tom leaned in, the kiss finally sealed.

At first it felt painful, as if something was crawling under his skin trying to escape. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry in pain, but he remained quiet, his eyes locked into The Darkness' blurry gaze. Then he felt peace, ease, comfort. He didn't even realize he had been clinging to it as hard as he was.

The Darkness smiled.

" **_We don't need to hurry. Play around with them. We'll show them how powerful we are soon._ ** " The Darkness spoke.

"Wait, what about the Judgement Tank? What if they find out through it that I am on your side now?" Tom asked.

" **_Do not worry, my dear. The Gods are too weak to match our power. Their silly little magics can't blow our cover._ ** " The Darkness assured Tom. " **_I'll be seeing you._ ** " And with that, the Darkness faded away.

Tom stared for a few moments at the place where Darkness stood not too long ago. He then shook his head as he saw Jordan fly over him with his trident, then gently landing in front of him.

"You okay, dude?" Jordan asked as he kneeled down in front of Tom, putting a hand on his shoulder.

That's when Tom broke down into tears. He had been holding them back for too long after Dianite turned his back on him. It still hurt like hell.

Jordan was taken aback by it. He had never seen Tom cry, not in this life or the previous one. When Tom wrapped his arms around him, he brought Tom closer and rubbed his back.

"It's okay, let it all out… let it all out…" Jordan whispered.

"He left me…" Tom cried. "He abandoned me..."

Jordan looked down at the mess that Tom was. "What? Who? How?"

Tom could hardly speak anymore, hiccups and whimpers being the only sounds he could make.

Jordan decided not to press further, but he had an idea of who he was talking about. While he wanted to feel proud of himself for smelling out Tom's bullshit with suddenly being on Ianite's side, he realized that there might have been a little more to his charade than met the eye.

"Come on, let's get you to bed." Jordan said as he lifted Tom up and started carrying him into his room. He carefully sat him down on the bed, but when he wanted to tuck Tom in and leave, he grasped at Jordan's arm and looked at him pleadingly. Jordan sighed and made Tom scoot over before getting in the bed. Tom wasted no time to get close to Jordan once again.

They didn't speak another word for a long time. When Tom fell asleep, Jordan thought about leaving, but the grip that Tom had on him, even in his sleep, let him know that Tom still needed him.

* * *

As Tom woke up, he was used to the feeling of the sun directly hitting him into his face, but it was blocked by a mass lying next to him. When he opened his eyes, he saw Jordan sleeping peacefully. His mind immediately wandered off to the previous day, with Dianite leaving him, the deal he made with the Darkness, and crying in front of Jordan. He chewed the inside of his lip as he tried to understand the situation he was in. He didn't know whether he made the right call or not, and he was scared that maybe he chose the wrong thing. But he had a warm feeling in his chest, one that comforted him. He could feel its presence, somehow. Protecting him. Easing his pain. He liked that.

His attention wandered back to the man next to him. He raised his arm so he could gently run the back of his fingers over the side of Jordan's face, passing over the rough of his beard up to his hair, then slowly back down.

This wasn't the first time they've lied like this, but it never had any meaning other than comfort and assurance. A lot of the times it felt like it was just the two of them against the world.

When Jordan opened his eyes, Tom quickly moved his hand away, pretending as if he never touched Jordan's face earlier.

"Good morning, matey." Tom said with his forced pirate accent.

Jordan groaned and put his face into the pillow. "Please don't start with this so early."

Tom laughed and moved back and away from Jordan. "Alright, alright. You stay in bed, princess, I'll grab us some food."

Jordan groaned again and turned to properly lie on his stomach.

As he walked into his front room, he had to hold himself back from screaming when he saw Ianite just sitting on the fence by the stairs that lead to the basement.

"W-what are you doing here?" Tom asked with confusion. 

"I'm here in regards to what happened yesterday." Ianite had a cup of tea in her hand and she brought it up to take a sip. "My brother seemed to have… let his pride take over him, from what I've heard, and you've been left Godless and heartbroken."

Tom gazed back at Jordan, who was suddenly wide awake and ready to greet his Goddess. He then looked to Ianite and frowned. Tom could very much be in the deepest shit he has ever been. "Word gets out fast, doesn't it?"

Ianite nodded, gently sitting the teacup back on its plate. "Indeed. I've tried talking to him, but he's not willing to talk. For now, at least. He's young, he's not used to being a God, so I wanted to apologize on his behalf."

Apologize, huh? "I don't think there's any apologies needed." He leaned against the doorframe, looking down, defeated. "I was trying my best, but I guess it wasn't enough. It's not anyone's fault."

"Hi– my lady, sorry…" Jordan stuttered as he walked out of the bedroom, adjusting his clothes.

Ianite seemed surprised to see Jordan there, then looked back and forth between the two men with eyes narrowed. "Alright, well, I'll try and talk to Dianite. Until then, you can be under my guidance. I'll be sure to update you on his situation. You two have fun with... each other."

Jordan opened his mouth to say something, but Ianite disappeared before he could.

Tom looked at Jordan and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Sorry, man, I guess she really was only here for me."

Jordan frowned. "Damn it…" He then looked at Tom. "Why was she here, though? Like, precisely."

"She wanted to apologize for Dianite abandoning me and doesn't understand why he did it, so until she can talk to him, I guess we'll be sharing a Goddess now. For real this time."

"That's… wow, I thought that you fucked up or something, but Dianite really just left you, like that?" Jordan leaned against the fence where Ianite was. "I'm so sorry, dude, that's kinda fucked up."

Tom rolled his eyes. "I already told Ianite, apologies aren't needed. I'm just… lost, to be honest."

"I understand." Jordan said. There was something about Jordan's expression that Tom couldn't quite read. The most he could tell was that it felt… off. But maybe it was just the light. He had pretty bad light in this room after all.

There were a few moments of awkward silence before Jordan cleared his throat and spoke up.

"So what was with the face touching earlier?" Jordan smirked.

"I– uh–" Tom immediately went red. "Phew, damn, look at the time! I need to go, my people need me!" He put on his elytra and immediately flew out of the scene. Avoiding confrontation, always a good idea!

As Tom flew to the other side of the volcano, he felt a familiar cold touch on his cheek.

" **_Hope I am not interrupting you, my dear._ ** " The Darkness formed itself into its human-like shape and landed right next to Tom.

"No, uh…" Tom rubbed his face to get rid of the redness in his cheeks, but it only resulted in making his face redder. "You got nothing to interrupt me from."

" **_Ah, wonderful,_ ** " The Darkness grabbed Tom's hand. It pained him how familiar its voice felt, and he wished he could understand why. " **_Do you want to receive your first gift?_ ** " It asked.

Tom nodded eagerly. The Darkness squeezed his hand and Tom felt something rushing in his veins. It didn't have to explain what the gift could do. He felt as if he had always known. He raised his hand to the sky and with a bit of focus… it turned to night time.

"This is insane!" Tom exclaimed, followed by a scream of glee.

It gently wrapped its arms around Tom's shoulders from behind and watched as stars started popping up, one by one, in the now night sky.

" **_I'm glad you're enjoying my gift, Thomas. There's plenty more to come. And they will come, eventually._ ** "

Tom basked in the warm and comforting feeling it was giving him, shutting his eyes and leaning against it. 

"What else can top this?" Tom asked curiously.

" **_Quite a few things. Be patient, you will have all of the gifts you deserve. Maybe even one of them is something you have always, but never realized you did._ ** " Every word it spoke made Tom weaker and weaker in its arms.

"I'm excited." Tom smiled lazily. "I trust you."

* * *

Sometimes you're playing with The Devil. Sometimes you're the Devil's best friend. 

Tom was back and forth on it. The Devil, in this case, being The Darkness.

It was strange. He never hung out with Dianite, but with it? A whole different story. If there was a moment Tom was alone more than five seconds, it showed up and just plainly and simply hung out. They didn't talk about much, and most times it was just The Darkness watching him build, voicing some opinions here and there, but mostly watching him.

Did it feel invasive at times? Yes, but rarely. Tom didn't mind the idle chatter, nor the quiet moments with it around.

"Do you have… a name? Other than Darkness, I mean." Tom inquired as he was feeding his chickens, the misty figure of The Darkness sitting on the fence watching, smoke-like tendrils waving in the wind.

" **_No one gave me one._ ** " The Darkness answered, its voice still like a low whisper in his head.

"What about…. John? Jeremy? Jill?" Tom raised a brow towards it with a small smirk.

" **_How about Jordan, if we're stuck on the J names?_ ** " The Darkness sounded very amused, which made Tom chuckle in return.

"Nah, there's already a Jordan here, can't take his place, mate." Tom shook his head and looked back towards the chickens.

A few moments of silence followed. Tom wished he could read the misty-smokey-whatever Darkness face, but at most that he could tell was that it was staring intently at Tom.

Finally, the silence was broken by a low hum from The Darkness.

" **_Do you love him?_ ** " It asked.

Tom was taken aback.

"Love… love who?" Tom stuttered, his mind starting to race.

" **_The Ianitee._ ** " It paused. " **_Jordan._ ** "

"I don't know.. I don't think so? He's my mate, my friend. I don't think he ever saw me as any more than that and I don't think it's right for me to see him as more than that." Tom said, scratching the back of his head.

Another low hum from The Darkness.

Tom swallowed hard and focused on feeding the chickens. By the time he looked back again, The Darkness was gone. Tom frowned. Did he say something wrong?

* * *

"Jordan, help me!" Tom yelled out as he was falling from the sky towards Jordan's base. His elytra stopped working mid air and he immediately started plummeting towards the ground.

He saw Jordan look up confused, then freaking out, and somehow his answer ended up being literally waiting on the ground with open arms to catch him.

When he started feeling The Darkness' comforting aura around him, he saw Jordan get surrounded temporarily by smoke-like tendrils. He realized that The Darkness was helping them keep Tom from plummeting to his death, but he really hoped that Jordan didn't notice that it was getting involved.

As Tom slammed into Jordan, he felt tight arms wrap around him and the warmth he got so used to seemed to come directly from Jordan, but Tom knew it was just a trick from The Darkness to keep them undercover. It must be, at least. The two men slid across the dirt with the force of the momentum that carried through the fall. Jordan's back must've been a mess.

For a little while they just lied there, catching their breaths, but not a single moment did Jordan loosen his tight grip on Tom, as if he was afraid he'd somehow lose him.

Finally, the grip loosened and both of them relaxed.

"You okay, Jordan?" Tom asked as he lifted his head to look down at his friend.

"Am I– am  **_I_ ** okay?  _ Am  _ **_I_ ** _ okay? _ " Jordan's voice was going higher in pitch with each word. "You just fucking fell out of the sky and you ask  _ if I am okay _ ?!"

Tom blinked once. Twice. "Well, yeah, mate, you literally took the worst of the fall." He paused. "Thank you for saving me."

Jordan seemed to deflate a little and let his head fall back against the ground.

"I'm fine, surprisingly. I somehow barely got hurt." Jordan sighed. "You're lucky I care about you."

Tom smiled. He didn't say anything else, just lied there with Jordan until it started getting awkward.

They didn't talk much afterwards, but they also didn't feel the need to. Jordan offered to fix Tom's elytra, and then Tom was on his way to his island.

As soon as he stepped on his own land, the Darkness appeared in front of him.

" **_Please be more careful in the future, my dear._ ** " The Darkness sounded genuinely concerned. " **_I don't want there to be a time where I can't catch you._ ** "

Tom felt bad. He should've checked if his elytra was still in good contusion before he took off, he knew he should have, but he didn't and that almost got him killed.

"I'll try my best, I really didn't mean to end up like this." He looked down at the ground.

The Darkness hovered over him and gently lifted Tom's head. For a second, he thought he saw Jordan's eyes, but they weren't. Tom is maybe thinking a little too much about Jordan.

" **_I gave you many gifts. Protection, power, even wealth…_ ** " as The Darkness spoke, all the tender moments he shared with Jordan started involuntarily playing in his head. " **_You want love, don't you?_ ** "

Tom chewed on his lip. Maybe he was in love with his best friend. Maybe he wanted more than just small tender touches shared secretly. Maybe he just wanted… him.

He shook his head. No. Jordan clearly didn't see him as anything more than a friend. He couldn't push that boundary. He shouldn't. 

The Darkness grabbed Tom's hand and pulled Tom into a gentle kiss. Tom's lips were tingling and his eyes went wide.

" **_I am giving you my biggest gift yet, Thomas. The gift of love. When you kiss him how I kissed you, he will love you forever._ ** " The Darkness stayed close even after the kiss broke.

"But that's not fair!" Tom argued with a frown. "I can't just… force him to love me! Then it wouldn't even be real love!"

" **_It will be real, my dear, do not underestimate me. But it's up to you whether you use my gift or not._ ** "

Before Tom could argue again, the Darkness faded.


	2. See me bare my teeth for you.

As the champions built the Judgement Tank, Tom was stuck in his thoughts. He kept staring longingly at Jordan as he thought about The Darkness' gift.

Tom sighed and put his hands up above his head before letting them rest on his head. He couldn’t just  _ do _ that to Jordan. He wanted the real deal or nothing.

Life wasn’t so fair.

As the ceremony started, he sat down on the grass and watched Declan summon the Gods. When Dianite appeared, he couldn’t help but avoid his glance. Dianite wasn’t looking at him either, that was clear. Tom focused on Declan’s voice while he continued the ceremony.

When Jordan walked by him as he got called up to the tank, Tom felt a shiver down his spine that left him breathless. He looked around as casually as he could to see if anyone else felt it too. He chewed on his lip and leaned back on his hands to watch Jordan sinking into the tank when he realized that no one but him felt that.

As light and day passed by fast as if time didn’t even matter anymore, a ringing in his head struck him. He saw everyone flinch. Whispers started to flood into Tom’s head for a few moments before he heard, along with everyone else, Declan’s voice once again.

“Ianite!” He cheered, raising his arms up as he preached to the sky.

Ianite started cheering for her champion as well as he climbed down from the Tank. Then it was her turn.

This time, he didn’t hear the creepy whispers, but the ringing still happened. She was declared Ianite, which meant nothing was different about her.

As Declan announced Tom’s turn, he felt weirdly anxious. He climbed into the Tank willingly, though. And when he did, it hurt. It burned. It felt like Hell was going through his entire body. But he tried his best not to show it. As the day/night cycle started speeding up, the pain got worse and worse and worse and-

He felt the warmth he started associating with The Darkness cover his body and soothe his pain. When the tank door opened, Tom pushed himself up and out of it to hear Declan announce his God.

“Ianite!” The declaration seemed to shock everyone. Even Dianite who was now staring intensely at him.

Tom took the moment to laugh awkwardly and adjust his clothes.

“Uh… hahah, yeah, told you all I am Ianite now!” Tom said, grinning widely.

Ianite stepped up to speak. “Yeah, uh… after some events, I decided to take Tom in.”

When Tom looked over at Jordan, his first thought was that Jordan definitely felt betrayed by Ianite. But then… there was something in his eyes that wasn’t fully right. He couldn’t quite pick up on it. He’d come to the conclusion that it was no use for him trying to fully read Jordan. He was never able to.

Declan saw the tension rising, so he ushered Dianite into the tank before anything could go awry.

“We don’t have time all day, let’s get through this.” Declan said after closing the door of the tank. Dianite didn’t seem pleased, but went along with it. He was staring daggers at Ianite through the whole process.

“Dianite!” Declan announced.

No surprises there.

The next two were Karl and Mianite. Up until them, he didn’t hear those creepy whispers, so he somehow expected those whispers to show up again on their turns.

But they didn’t. Karl was pronounced Mianite, then it was shown that he had The Darkness in him. And the same thing went for Mianite. Tom moved back a little.

It all felt strange. Even though he knew that’s how the answers should’ve gone, he still felt like Karl and Mianite being exposed as having The Darkness just didn’t sit right with him.

Even as they fought for the Darkness armour, he felt off. He found himself staring at Jordan a lot more than usual. He was way calmer than usual. Still gave Tom some glares because of him being declared an Ianitee, but other than that, unusually calm.

Late in the night, while Tom was lying on his bed staring at the sky through his window, he felt that familiar warmth.

“Did you actually… do all of that?” Tom found himself asking.

“ **_Yes. Did you not enjoy the show_ ** ?” The Darkness laid next to him, blocking his view of the sky.

Tom sighed and turned around to face away from it.

“I don’t know.” he said quietly.

When Tom didn’t hear a reply, he turned around and saw that the Darkness was gone. He turned back on his side and curled up, the sheets falling off the bed. He shut his eyes.

Maybe it wasn’t that things around him didn’t feel right.

Maybe  _ he _ didn’t feel right.

* * *

He almost refused to look at the chest that gave out black smoke. Almost. He knew it was another gift from  _ it _ .

He still ended up looking.

It was a potion. A  _ really _ powerful potion. One that could legitimately save his life. And there was a note too. 

‘ _ To keep you safe from dying on me.’ _

Tom shut the chest and tried to bury it in the sand. He didn’t want to deal with this.

Maybe an hour passed and Tom suddenly heard Karl calling for his attention as he landed with his elytra on the beach.

“I just got a fucking potion from the Darkness, mate. Some strong shit.” Karl said immediately, not even letting Tom greet him.

“You  _ what _ ?” His voice cracked when he spoke.

“Dude, for real! I didn’t even pick it up, I just saw a chest labeled ‘ _ For my wonderful champion. _ ’ and when I looked inside of it, there was this potion in it!” Karl put both of his hands on Tom’s shoulders. “I think that thing is abso-fucking-lutely serious about having me as its champion or whatever. It’s fucked, man!”

Tom blanked for a bit, unsure how to respond.

"What's wrong, mate?" Karl's confused tone made Tom snap out of it.

"What? Oh, uh… I've just been thinking…"

"Well, better not hurt yourself with it." Karl laughed.

Tom snickered as well but then shook his head.

"I'm serious, though, something hasn't been sitting right with me." Tom shifted his weight from one leg to another.

Karl's expression became more serious and he crossed his arms.

"Is that so?" Karl narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna say it how it is, even though I don't like to admit it, but I think the Darkness wants  _ me _ as its champion."

"Is it that much of a surprise, though?" Karl's expression softened into a look of pity.

"What do you mean?" Tom asked.

"I mean…" Karl paused. "If there's anyone here who could satisfy the prick, it's you. You're all about chaos and shit. As much as I actually hate to say it, evil is kind of your thing."

_ Right _ , Tom thought.  _ It's my thing. _ Tom scratched the back of his head and looked down at the ground.

"Do you… actually think I want to hurt you all?" Tom asked, genuine hurt in his voice.

Karl deflated. Tom watched as the other man thought hard, avoiding Tom's glance, trying to find the right answer and the right tone– maybe the right lie.

"Just be honest." When Tom spoke up again, Karl got startled. Tom sighed.

When Tom began turning to go back to working on his beach, he heard Karl speak up again.

"I do." The answer felt like a knife stabbing into his heart. "Tom, I… I think you're a very dangerous man. And that if one button is pushed wrong, all of us will be fucking doomed."

Tom couldn't help but stare towards Jordan's island. Did he think the same? Still, he didn't say another word. He didn't tell Karl to leave, he didn't look at him again, he just grabbed his shovel and went to fix the small beach he had on his island.

He didn't even look when Karl took off and left.

* * *

  
  


He didn’t hear much from the Darkness for a while. He found himself using his power to turn time less and less. It felt wrong as if he was giving in to the evil he was scared to become.

Tom found himself at the Priest’s tower, just sitting on the stairs outside, his hands put together for prayer. Who did he pray to? No one in particular. He just needed to get the pain out of his chest that kept him from breathing.

“That’s a long prayer.” Tom heard Declan say. The Priest came by a while ago, Tom only acknowledging him with a nod. When Tom didn’t answer, Declan continued, “I don’t think any Gods can help you find the answer to it.”

Tom knew that. When Declan opened his arms, Tom took no time to lean into the other’s embrace and soon enough he found himself crying. He had been doing that a lot lately, when previously he barely cried. He wished he could remember why this felt so familiar. Whenever he tried to go through his memories to find out why, his mind blocked him out of them, as if they were some sort of forbidden information he was never meant to access.

“I got you, son,” Declan whispered and Tom felt like screaming. “I always do.”

“I’m sorry…” Tom found himself whispering back.

Declan squeezed him in his arms reassuringly.

“It’s not your fault.”

_ It’s not my fault _ , Tom tried to repeat in his head, but he found it hard to believe. After all, he chose the Darkness in the end.

“You’ll need to answer your own prayer. Only you know what you have to do.” Declan told him.

For a while, neither of them moved. When Tom felt ready, he got up, then looked down at Declan.

“Thank you, dad.” He said, and he could see tears start to well up in Declan’s eyes too at the recognition. Maybe Tom couldn’t remember, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t know.

As Tom took off, his mind was racing for answers. But before he could settle on one, he had one question he couldn’t answer himself, yet knew the person who could answer it for him. So he headed for Jordan’s island.

When he landed on the island, it was quiet, meaning Jordan was likely down in the mine, or at the Ianite temple. He sat on the front steps of his house and waited.

Jordan showed up not too long after. When he saw Tom, he gave him a skeptical and careful look.

“What are you doing here, Tom?” Jordan asked, his hand on his sword.

Tom looked at his own shaking hands for a moment before looking up at Jordan.

“Please be honest with me, Jordan,” Tom started, clasping his hands together to stop them from shaking. He could feel black tendrils of smoke rise from his body. “Did you ever love me?”

“I..”

* * *

Ianite watched as Jordan left her temple, her hands holding tightly on the emerald attached to the necklace around her neck. She focused for a moment and from her temple, she appeared on the island where the Trial House sat. She found herself leaning against the wall of the Trial house, feeling exhausted after what happened at the temple with Jordan.

_ “My lady,” Jordan put a hand on her shoulder as she stared at the floor. “You are weak. Why do you keep coming to see me?” _

_ She didn’t answer. She didn’t want to admit that she missed  _ **_him_ ** _. She looked at Jordan, and for a moment, she saw  _ **_him_ ** _ again. Just a flash, a quick trick of light. She had to hold back a sob. _

_ “Ianite…” Stop, stop talking, You sound too much like  _ **_him_ ** _. Stop talking. Stop talking. Stop talking! _

_ When Jordan opened his mouth to speak again, no words came out. Ianite couldn’t hear him speak anymore. Instead, Jordan’s mouth gave out black smoke with each word he didn’t speak. _

_ She screamed and pulled away, covering her ears as she slowly sank to the floor due to the water easing her fall to her knees. The moment she looked up again, Jordan was gone. _

“My lady.” She heard Jordan’s voice and her head snapped towards him to tell him to leave her be, but when he saw those eyes, she realized… it was  _ him _ .

Tears fell from her eyes as she reached out to him and when he grabbed her hand, she let out a loud cry. He gently brought her close and into his arms, fingers treading carefully into her hair.

“I can’t be here for long.” The familiar tone of her lover made her weak to stand up, but he held her tightly. “I need to warn you.”

As she looked at her lover, she could see the black tendrils of smoke coming from him. Her hands found themselves holding tightly onto the side of her lover’s face. 

“What happened to you?” Ianite asked, her voice shaking with worry and fear.

“ _ It _ found me.” He growled. “Took my face and came here.” Spark turned his head to glare at Jordan’s island.

“You don’t mean that he…” Ianite gasped, her world felt like it was shattered before her.

“I need to go now, before it knows I’m here.” Spark looked at her, grabbing her by the sides of her face. “I will be back, though. I promise.”

Before Ianite could say anything, he kissed her sweetly. And by the time she could kiss him back, he disappeared from her arms, leaving her on the ground, alone.

But this wasn’t the time for her to cry. So she wiped her tears and got up, then headed towards Jordan’s island.

* * *

“I…” Tom heard Jordan swallow hard. “I-I do, yeah, I do…”  _ Lies _ . “I have for a while, yeah!” Jordan’s voice was shaking.

Tom got up from the stairs. Jordan took a step back.

“I-I’ve been meaning to tell you, y’know. Yeah.. Yeah… I have…” Jordan stuttered.

Whenever Tom took a step forward, Jordan took one back. Tom didn’t look at him and the smoke got thicker and thicker around him.

“ **_You know what to do._ ** ” Tom heard in his mind.

“Then kiss me.” Tom finally looked up at Jordan, his eyes completely blacked out.

“I- uh, maybe we should slow this down-” Jordan spoke fast.

“ _ Kiss me _ .” Tom pressed.

But before Tom could lunge forward, Ianite appeared in front of him and wrapped his arms around him to hold him back.

“ _ Don’ _ t  _ touch him, you filthy thing _ .” Ianite growled. Tom realized that Ianite wasn’t talking to him and he felt the smoke slowly disappear from him and his eyes go back to normal when they widened in… shock? Confusion? Both? Ianite pulled back a little and looked him over, then glared at Jordan.

“Ianite? What are you doing?” Jordan asked, with what sounded to be genuine confusion.

“Oh, don’t play those stupid games with me.” Ianite kept an arm around Tom as he turned around. “I know who you are.”

Tom looked between the two of them, his mind and heart racing.

“What are you talking about-”   
“Look at him, Thomas. Look hard at him.” Ianite cut Tom off when he spoke. 

As Tom tried to look at Jordan, he felt that familiar warmth the Darkness gave him whenever it was around. He felt his heart stuck in his throat, pounding hard to the point where it made Tom actually choke.

Jordan sighed, the glamour he wore falling off and turning into smoke as his body gently hovered over the ground. Ianite squeezed Tom closer. He still had Jordan’s features, but it looked… wrong. The Darkness had a soft smirk on his face as he chuckled.

“ **_Took you awhile to figure out, Ianite_ ** .” He said, his darkened pupils piercing through Thomas and Ianite.

“You were too good to be true.” Her eyes narrowed at him. “Taking my lover’s face? How  _ cruel _ .”

“It was just for flavor. Seeing your lover pine after someone else… it hurt, didn’t it? You hated Tom for it.” His words were carefully placed, his tone unwavering and  _ cold _ . Tom could feel chills run his spine.

“Why me?” Tom found himself asking.

“ **_Oh, Thomas, your innocence never fails to amaze me._ ** ” The Darkness suddenly appeared behind Tom, pulling him away from Ianite. “ **_So blind to the power you have in you… Why did you think Dianite wanted you so bad?_ ** ”

Tom wanted to speak, but no words could come out of his mouth. When he looked at Ianite, she was banging her fists on a dark force field surrounding him and The Darkness. The Darkness forced Tom’s head to look him in the eyes, clawed fingers digging into his cheeks.

“ **_How could I not want you too? How couldn’t I try to make you_ ** **_mine_ ** **_?_ ** ”

The Darkness kissed him and Tom felt so cold. His mind began to numb and he could only focus on the kiss, unable to form coherent thoughts. 

_ “You’ll need to answer your own prayer. Only you know what you have to do.” _ Declan’s- no, his  _ father’s _ words suddenly flashed into his head. Right, he was the son of the Priest. Just like his father, he was the link between the God’s realm and the human’s realm.

Before Tom could lose his consciousness, he found the power to pull back from the kiss then  _ slam his head into The Darkness’ face _ .

“Fuck you!” Tom yelled, pushing himself away from The Darkness.

The Darkness was taken aback and looked at Tom with surprise. Then he smirked when he saw a brightly glowing sword form into Tom’s hands. A sword containing power from Mianite, Dianite and Ianite. 

“ **_Oh, you want to fight, huh?_ ** ” The Darkness straightened himself for a moment then lunged forward to attack, but found himself stuck. Panicked, he looked around and realized he was magically glued to the ground. Tom lifted his head up with his sword to make The Darkness look at him. This was it for The Darkness. This was the end. He braced himself for the end, shutting his eyes…

But nothing came. The cold blade of the sword was gone.

“Jordan…” he heard Tom say. “You’re not evil.”

Jordan opened his eyes wide and saw Tom’s hand held out for him.

“I…”

Tom got down on his knees when Jordan grabbed his hand and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“You are not evil.” Tom repeated and Jordan broke down crying soon after. “You were alone.” 

Jordan wanted to tell Tom to shut up, that he was wrong, that he was  **_evil_ ** , but his sobs kept him from speaking.

“You can have me, Jordan.” Tom said after a few moments. “Not as a slave, not as a weapon, but as a friend, or as a lover, whichever it may end up being. You are not alone anymore.”

It was hard for Jordan to accept it, because he was so used to being alone, he was so used to everyone despising him and hating him. So Tom, the only person he knew to be as vile as him, showing him love? Showing him acceptance? It was hard to think it was real. He feared that when he would open his eyes again, he would be back in his pocket of void, all empty and alone.

But when he opened his eyes again and Tom was still there, holding him and comforting him, he broke out into another fit of sobs.

**_He’s not alone anymore._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it wasn't Tom who needed those hugs after all. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
